>>9938442It's "confirmed"
We know the Chinese factories steal molds all the time, and given how many bootlegs there are, that's likely what happened.
What I think probably occurred was: NECA's mirage figures came out, were a success, wave 2 was sculpted and ready to get into production. Playmates, in their jealous bitch rage started prototyping their own Mirage TMNT figures (the first time) just to cockblock NECA and keep a stranglehold on the rights. That's when NECA's wave 2 plans got toasted and sat around as 2-ups in their office...
PROBABLY around that time the Chinese factory either stole the molds or NECA decided to leave them because they wouldn't be able to use them at all and it was likely to expensive to try getting them back. And then all the bootlegs started happening, and during that period there was no more TMNT in NECA's future, so it was whatever.
